Cleveland Browns Thread v. Now with LESS Braylon :drool:

My new prediction...Brandon Weeden and Trent Richardson are going to be awesome and our offense will start to click for the first time since the rebirth!!!

Old prediction: Derek Anderson is going to step it up and have a very good year, making better decisions and avoiding the picks (with much better o-line play) and then we'll be in a Brees-Rivers situation with Anderson and Quinn and will make the wrong decision on who to keep.

For QB-IQ he reminds me of Kosar....so really would be worth a longer look.

Click to expand...

He is tall enough to get up passes over the DL, he has the IQ to read defenses, they have the TE to catch passes over the middle. Oh and compared to the other choices at QB he is the one who has a championship ring. The sooner they trade Frye or Anderson the better off they will be.

Ah well... 2-2 bitches! (Should be 3-1 ) I told people from the start that we have talent on this team. Braylon and K2 are both on pace for 1400+ receiving yards , Lewis is a good back that can get some tough yards and DA HEAT is proving that you'd have to completely suck ass to not do decently with this offense. Our line has been terrific, our entire receiving corps is great and our running game is much improved. Our offense is actually worth noting this year...Hopefully next year Brady is ready to step in and be the franchise quarterback to put our offense over the top as one of the most fearsome in the game :x

Our defense is kind of disappointing so far this season...They give up a ton of yards, especially on the ground. Wimbley is a stud, Jackson is a good LB and Wright has a lot of potential. Overall though we need some good run stuffers and a rehaul in the secondary. I'm hoping that with McGinest coming back that our defense continues to grow and mature. If we can get to the point where we're not giving up 130+ yards rushing a game, you should watch out for us this year

2-2 overall and 2-1 in a really tough division

Awesome article on the browns Oline

Offensive line strong again
Steve King, Staff Writer
10.01.2007

The Browns came out of their 34-7 regular season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers knowing they had to hit the accelerator.

That is, they had to get going in all phases.

Right now. Immediately. Before it was too late.

So why is it, then, that the Browns are thrilled to death they're basically stuck in neutral -- for a long time, in fact -- in one very important statistic?

Because this is one statistic that could not afford to get much bigger. Actually, it improves if it stays the same.

We're talking about sacks, which has been a constant companion to the Browns during this expansion era. Browns quarterbacks have been battered, bruised and beaten while attempting to throw, which is why none of them have been able to stay healthy for very long.

It was that way, too, against the Steelers. Starter Charlie Frye got sacked five times in a quarter and a half. Derek Anderson was dumped once in finishing the game.

There were six sacks in all. Pro-rate that over a 16-game season and it comes out to 96. That hurts just to write it, to say it, to see it in print, not to say what it does to the quarterbacks getting clocked.

But since that game, the Browns have been sacked just once.

Just once.

And Anderson didn't even get knocked down on that sack, which came last Sunday in the 26-24 loss at Oakland. He got hit and fumbled the ball out of bounds. He was so upright, in fact, that he chased the ball.

The total for the season is just seven.

Just seven.

And since the middle of the first quarter against the Steelers, it's been just two.

Just two.

That continued Sunday, when the Browns kept Anderson completely clean -- no sacks at all -- in a 27-13 triumph over the Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

That would be Ray Lewis, Bart Scott, Terrell Suggs and their buddies, who help comprise is what arguably the best defense in the NFL.

In the past, playing against a bunch like that would have caused a big headache for the Browns, and an even bigger one for the quarterback.

But Anderson's white pants did not have a mark on them as he exited the field following Sunday's game.

"The offensive line did a pretty good job today overall," Browns head coach Romeo Crennel said.

We big to differ. It was better than just "pretty good."

"For the line to have given up no sacks against this team was obviously the key to the game," Browns left guard Eric Steinbach said. "If you want to win in this league, you've got to keep the defense off your quarterback. If he is able to sit back there and handle the pressure, he can make plays."

And Anderson did. He had passes of 78 yards -- a career high -- to wide receiver Braylon Edwards for a touchdown, and 49 yards to tight end Kellen Winslow. He also had two TD passes overall. That's about as good as it gets against the Ravens.

The line has long been an area of concern for the Browns. The team has tried the patchwork method of fixing it in the past with only mixed results.

But recently, they targeted Steinbach, formerly of the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals, in free agency, and they had him under contract almost as soon as the signing period began.

Then in the NFL Draft, they bypassed the more sexy picks at the skill positions to use a more tried and true approach to getting better. That is, they selected an offensive lineman -- Wisconsin left tackle Joe Thomas -- at No. 3 overall.

And along with that, they signed free agent Seth McKinney from the Miami Dolphins to play right guard, making the guard positions better than they've been since the team returned to the field in 1999, and re-signed center Hank Fraley.

Also, they moved Kevin Shaffer, last year's left tackle, to right tackle to make room for Thomas.

Keep in mind, too, that Ryan Tucker, the team's best offensive lineman since 2002, is set to return this week -- maybe at guard -- after serving an NFL-imposed four-game suspension, and center/guard LeCharles Bentley continues to recover from a knee injury that knocked him out of the entire 2006 season.

When those two are ready to go, this line will become just that much better.

In the meantime, though, it's doing very well, thank you, just the way it is.

Did we mention as well the run blocking? Jamal Lewis rushed for a whopping 216 yards against the Bengals in Week 2, and he got 64 yards in 23 tries against the Ravens.

You can't ignore that, and Crennel hasn't.

But as much as he likes what the line has done in terms of the ground game, he's even more enamored with the pass blocking.

"The free agents and draft picks we brought in are beginning to come together," he said. "They're giving the quarterback a little bit of a comfort level. He knows he doesn't have to rush things."

That's right. No need to hit the accelerator this time.

Especially when it comes to sacks, which is one stat where next to nothing really means something.